Apparatus for manufacturing combustible gas



Aug. 18, 1925. 1,550,273

E. M, c. MCALPINE APPARATUS Foii mmumccrunme comaus'rmm GAS Filed Nov. 23, 1921 ll I i Z a 1 Ci. a d

v l C p c2 4 AZ (i2 e! I &1 V

w he out e epeainelzfiq Patented Aug. 18, 1925.

EDWARD M. G. MGALPINE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING CQMBUSTIBLE GAS.

Application filed November 2s 1921. semi No. 517,178.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD M. C.

MCALPINE, a subject of the King of England, residing in Chicago, Cook County, State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Manufacturing Combustible Gas, of which the following, taken in connection with the drawing, is a description.

My invention has for its object the pro-' duction of apparatus for manufacturing combustible V gases from. water and crude hydrocarbon, the combination of which produces a gas of very high calorific value.

It is an object of my invention to produce an apparatus whereby water is delivered into a vaporizer and the heat from the gases therein will reduce the water to steam which is later brought into contact with any crude mineral oil which is quickly vaporized and mixed with the water gas ready for use for heating or for any other industrial purpose.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated What I now consider the pre ferred form of an embodiment of the essential features of my invention, although it is obvious the details thereof may be changed without departing from the spirit of my invention, and in these drawings U V Figure l is a vertical sectional view of the appliance and Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional detail of the mixing chamber.

In carrying out my invention, I provide an outer Wall or casing A of any suitable material, through the center of which extends an expansion chamber A which is preferably a vertically disposed cylinder, designed for the mixing and expansion of the two elements, steam and vaporized crude oil as hereinafter explained.

Surrounding said chamberAfand spaced apart from the wall thereof is. a vaporizing chamber B, which is also cylindrical in form, and which is completely enclosed ex-, pt fortheinletop ning G fonwat an F' e yjiseeu cl ta the nner. a this: porizingchamber Bis a ugh .,..which.

xte s in? a sp r l d r ction 'froni Jthetep.

discharged into the trough b, at the top of the vaporizing chamber B, said water following the course of the spiral trough Z), toward the bottom of the chamber. The arrangement of this trough permits the water to circulate in contact with the heated wall 64, whereby it is convertedinto steam. As the water is converted into steam it is discharged at or near the bottom of said chamber through the opening 5 into the mixing chamber C, entering said chamber at approximately the center thereof.

is an annular chamber or compartment 'which extends around the expansion chamber A and is provided through the upper wall thereof with a plurality of apertures 65 which serve as gas jets in the operation of the device. IVith the initial operation city gas or other similar fuel is delivered into this chamber 1) to start combustion; the gas supplied thereto is ignited at the orifices d and the hot products of combustion pass upwardly between the wall of the expansion chamber A and the inner wall a of the vaporizing chamber.

The hot products of combustion travel upwardly in the chamber E formed be tween the wall of the expansion chamber and the inner wall of the vaporiz ing chamber until they are deflected at the top thereof and return in the chamber formed'between the outer wall a of the. vaporizing chamber and the casing wall A, from the bottom of which it is dis charged to the atmosphere, or may be con;- veyed through a pipe to any other place.

It will be seen that by this direction of travel of the heated combustion gases, the vaporizing chamber is maintained at a very high temperature, whereby the Water introduced therein :through the pipe C is very quickly converted into steam and is delivered through the orifice .5 near the bottom of said chamber into the mixing chamber I i l 1 I Opening, preferably through the top of nlllil l gzchamber CI is alpipe c, which has connection withas'ouicelof supply. ofliy'dro- F carbonor lcrudenoil. Eorthe purpose of distrib ti o nll arranged.withinthe 1IllX ingii ch anibeli Q a plurality of supports or partitions...a, cfiynpon .whichis placed adis trihuting lrieelilun16?,.siich..aslwi1?e5 gauze. or mineral wool, or any other suitable material.

As the crude oil is discharging into the mixing chamber C it falls upon the distributing medium C whereby it is distributed by capillary attraction and insures a better contact with the steam which has been introduced at a high temperature into said mixing chamber from a point near the center thereof and travels first upwardly and then downwardly through the distributing medium. When the steam contacts with the oil in the mixing chamber it quickly vaporizes it, holding it in suspension and resolving it into vaporous form, while being discharged into the expansion chamber A through the passageway A In the superheating and expansion chamber A which is heated by the hot combustion gas from. the jets of the burner chamber D, the mixture of steam and vaporized oil is converted into an oil gas. The oil gas is discharged from the expansion chamber A through the outlet 6 to a burner of approved design, or it may be stored in a suitable gas holder.

It will be observed that provision is made in the mixing chamber C for the thorough mixing of the vaporized hydrocarbon or crude oil and the steam. In the operation of the apparatus in the event that oil should be introduced through the pipe 0 too rapidly, that is, more rapidly than it can be vaporized by the incoming steam, the excess oil will flow through the distributing medium C and drain upon the wall or partition 0'. Any oil collected thereon will flow by gravity over said partition 0 onto the lower battle 0 The intlowing steam entering the mixing chamber through the opening 2') will have the tendency to vapor-- ize a portion of the oil collected upon the partition bafiles 0, 0. but any excess oil not so vaporized will flow to the bottom of the mixing chamber from whence it is withdrawn through a pet cock (not shown in the drawing) As soon as combustable vapors and steam are formed and are ready for delivery from the mixing chamber, through the passageway A the city gas or other fuel supply may be cutoff and a supply of combustible vapors from the mixing chamber is delivered into the chamber D, through the pipe 6, and cook a. This permits the combustible vapors just produced to be burnt at jets (Z of the chamber D for the purpose of supplying the necessary heat for producing steam from the water in the manner above described.

At the same time means are provided such as are common in gas burners to insure the introduction of sufiicient air into the chamber D for proper combustion.

I have found that by using superheated steam, I am able to produce a more complete vaporization of the crude hydrocarbon elements and also a more perfect combustion, substantially eliminating all carbon deposits which have heretofore rendered it very ditlicult if not impossible to utilize crude oil for this purpose.

I claim 1. Apparatus for producing gas from liquid hydrocarbons, comprising a vertical tubular expansion chamber having a gas outlet at its upper end; a mixing chamber communicating with the lower end of the expansion chamber; an annular burner surrounding the lower end of the expansion chamber; a passageway for combustible vapors from the interior of the apparatus to the burner; an annular vaporizing chamber surrounding but spaced from the expansion chamber, the burner being adapted to direct its hot products of combustion up said space; an inlet to said vaporizing chamber; an outlet from said vaporizing chamber to the mixing chamber.

2. Apparatus for producing gas from liquid hydrocarbons, comprising a vertical tubular expansion chamber having a gas outlet at its upper end; a mixing chamber communicating with the lower end of the expansion chamber; an annular burner surrounding the lower end of the expansion chamber; a passageway for combustible vapors from the interior of the apparatus to the burner; an annular vaporizing chamber surrounding but spaced from the expansion chamber, the burner being adapted to direct its hot products of combustion up said space; an inlet to said vaporizing chamber; an outlet from said vaporizing chamber to the mixing chamber; and a jacket surrounding but spaced from the vaporizing chamber adapted to deflect downwardly outside the vaporizing chamber the hot products of combustion which rise between its inner wall and the outside of the expansion chamber.

3. Apparatus for producing gas from liquid hydrocarbons, comprising a vertical tubular expansion chamber having a gas outlet at its upper end; a mixing chamber having a lateral extension at its lower end arranged under and communicating with the lower end of the expansion chamber above the lateral extension of the mixing chamber; a passageway for combustible vapors from the interior of the apparatus to the burner; an annular vaporizing chamber surrounding but spaced from the expansion chamber, the burner being adapted to direct its hot products of combustion up said space; an inlet to said vaporizing chamber; and an outlet from said vaporizing chamber to the mixing chamber.

4. Apparatus for producing gas from liquid hydrocarbons, comprising a vertical tubular expansion chamber having a gas outlet at its upper end; a mixing chamber communicating with the lower end of the expansion chamber; an annular burner surrounding the lower end of the expansion llll) chamber; a assageway for combustible vapors from tlie interior of the apparatus to the burner; an annular vaporizing chamber surrounding but spaced from the expansion chamber, the burner being adapted to direct its hot products of combustion up said space; an inlet to said vaporizing chamber; an outlet from said vaporizing chamber to the mixing chamber; bafiies in tlie mixing chamber between the inlet and outlet; and having a distributing medium for the liquid hydrocarbon supported between the bafiles.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification.

EDWARD M. C. MoALPINE. 

